Ballast Filling tires..cheep

Paddy · Dec 10, 2005

I will be filling my tire soon. Anti-freeze is mighty expensive. I was looking at a gal of windshield washer fluid and the label stated;

water 7732-18-5
Methyl Alcohol 67-56-1
proprietary ingreedients
contains less than 8% by VOC by weight

not for use below -25F

Can I buy Methyl and mix with water and save? Also I don't want or need the common items in anti freeze and windshield washer fluid that don't stop the freeze.

I keep my tractor in a heated garage /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif so I only want it for in case I need to have her out in the cold.

patrick

greg_g · Dec 10, 2005

A gallon of that washer fluid is actually lighter than a gallon of water; I'm guessing about 0.92 specific gravity. You should be looking at something >1.0 that gives you more weight to the gallon. THIS LIST will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

I bought used anti-freeze from Jiffy-Lube. The stuff they drain when folks come in to winterize was stored for disposal in 55 gallon drums. When I asked for some, they almost gave it away. Specific gravity of ethylene glycol is 1.125

//greg//

Paddy · Dec 10, 2005

Greg,

Since washer fluid is 92% water, I'm not going to fuss about the weight difference. Though the 'almost gave it away' part sounds good for the used anti freeze! not sure I could move a 55 gal drum

How much did it take to fill each of your tires? Did you do the fronts?

Thanks again for your advice,

Patrick

greg_g · Dec 10, 2005

I haven't done the KAMA yet. The anti-freeze trick was on the Yanmar, and the Jiffy Lube has since burned down. I'm considering magnesium-chloride for the fronts though. GoodYear says they'll do both fronts for $52. Haven't run into a situation where I need rear ballast yet, but the rotary cutter and the harrow make my front end feel light going uphill.

THIS CHART will give you an idea of how many gallons your tires will hold. The weight given is for plain water (not including the tire). Multiply that number by the specific gravity of whatever your choose for ballast.

//greg//

Soundguy · Dec 11, 2005

Paddy.. besides the anti freeze properties of your ballast.. the ww fluid and af fluid also offer anti-corrosion properties that things like cacl and straight water don't offer.

Soundguy

3RRL · Dec 11, 2005

Paddy,
Is your tractor 2wd or 4wd? It will make a difference as how much to fill the tires. Whether you have 2wd or 4wd it is important to have proper weight distribution to maintain stability. Use the tire size/weight chart that Greg provided to tell you how much weight you're adding or the chart provided in the following link.

THIS WEBSITE is what I used as a guideline to fill my tires.

Note that they reccomend a 60% front and 40% rear weight distribution for a 4wd tractor (when static). I also used the "footprint" method they described to determine proper tire traction and inflation after filling. The attachment shows all the stuff I had to take up to my wellsite to fill the tires. I only mixed a couple of gallons of Anti-freeze per tire because it rarely gets to freezing where I am.
Hope you find the link to be useful.

greg_g · Dec 11, 2005

( Paddy.. besides the anti freeze properties of your ballast.. the ww fluid and af fluid also offer anti-corrosion properties )

Since this model uses tube-type tires, my personal opinion is that potential corrosion is of secondary concern. Since any given tire has a finite fluid capacity, I would give more consideration to cost versus weight ; that is, what is the heaviest stuff I can put in there for the least amount of money?

//greg//

greg_g · Dec 11, 2005

Paddy,

Dunno if you've seen what the ballast bolts look like on your KAMA, but they're threaded on both ends. They're made that way so you can screw a pair together to add a second ballast ring, or a third if you want. I've already measured, and confirmed plenty of clearance for a ballast ring INSIDE the rear rims too

That said - unless you could find some locally - freight costs might price this alternative out of consideration.

//greg//

3RRL · Dec 11, 2005

( Dunno if you've seen what the ballast bolts look like on your KAMA, but they're threaded on both ends. They're made that way so you can screw a pair together to add a second ballast ring, or a third if you want. )

That's true...if I'm not mistaken, the KAMA book shows either (3) or (4) sets of ballast weights. I don't have my owner's manual here with me, but I think that's correct.

schmalts · Dec 12, 2005

I wouldnt say that washer fluid has any anti-corrosion to it. The stuff will eat away at metal and cause a pretty green color to electrical wiring is what i have seen. Maybe consider a different fluid other thann the WW fluid first and leave it for last resort.